Illyrioi Toxotai
While these units are available to the Illyrians and Rome and as mercenaries, the use of these units is fairly questionable. Firstly, they are worse than conventional Toxotai because of their slower movement speed and LOS, and also due to the fact that their self bows have far mediocre range. Secondly, they consume vast amounts of Wealth in their recruitment, so if anyone wishes to recruit them, you may need to shell out a vast amount of it just to maintain vast numbers of these men. The only benefit to using them is that because they are Illyrians, they have a powerful counter-Greek and counter-Celtic ability, being able to cause immense damage to units of both cultural groups as all other Illyrian units do. For the Romans, however, these units are ideal only if facing super-factions, such as the Seleucids or the Lugians who have some of the most powerful units in existence — otherwise, using them is not advisable. Understandably, these units are eventually consumed by Velites once the proper Policies are in place. See also *''Toxotai Kretekoi'' *''Kasatim Shardanim'' Background Illyrian warfare relied mainly on light units, making use of the broken terrain of both southern Italy and Illyria proper to gain a foothold over less experienced foes, and Illyrians were kitted out usually with swords and shields, or skirmishing weapons such as javelins and self bows. Much later, probably as a response to the encroachments of the Greeks and the Celts on their territory, the Illyrians began to develop their own heavy infantry tactics, with hoplite-style units eventually becoming commonplace in Illyrian warbands until their domination by Rome. Being capable of fighting both on foot and from horseback, Illyrians on both sides of the Adriatic often found employ as pirates, mercenaries or as warriors in the defence of their homes against Greeks, Romans, Celts .... and sometimes against each other too. The Messapian Illyrians were allies of the Athenian Republic during the Second Peloponnesian War, and provided archers for the Athenian expedition in their ill-fated assault of Syracuse, while various Illyrian tribes on both sides of the Adriatic fought for the Romans, Carthaginians and Epirotes during their many wars with one another in southern Italy. On the other hand, Illyrians were said to be highly unruly and of suspect loyalty — the Illyrians recruited by Perdiccas II of Macedon to help him and his Spartan allies seize Lyncestis from Epirus during the Archidamian War turned on him, and their betrayal soured diplomatic relations between the Spartans and the Macedonians. More than a century later, the Diadochid king Lysimachus of Thrace would also face the same issue — having suffered defections to his Macedonian enemy, Lysimachus had 5,000 Illyrian mercenaries murdered out of fear that they too would defect and cause him problems. Such traits — skilled, lethal, mercurial and corrupt — would also be the hallmark of their more renowned Early Modern descendents, the Stradiots who fought primarily as mediaeval light cavalry. References *''Indo-European languages & people''; Pre-Roman and Roman mitogenomes from Southern Italy *Universidade dos Valores; Luso-Illyrian *''Livius.org'', "llyrians" Screenshot 2019-08-09 16.46.10.png|Illyrioi Toxotai doing what they do best - attacking undefended buildings! Trivia This is the basic "archer" unit Romans and Carthaginians will ever get in conventional CtW scenarios. They're not very good against most other ranged units, but their existence can often help the Romans in hosing down both Celtic and Greek units, thus giving the Romans somewhat of a questionable edge when fighting against Greeks and Celts with no backup from a Barracks. Category:Mercenaries Category:Romans Category:Illyrians Category:Archers